Tunisia PM Chahed Elected President for Tahya Tounes

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Photo REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Photo REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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Tunisia PM Chahed Elected President for Tahya Tounes

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Photo REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Photo REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

Tahya Tounes party – founded recently – elected Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed as its president, confirming expectations of his leadership months before parliamentary and presidential elections.

The party’s national council meeting on Saturday resulted in electing Chahed as a president and Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) head Kamel Morjane as a vice president of the national council. This introduces for the stage of preparing Chahed for presidential elections scheduled on Nov. 17 and parliamentary elections scheduled on Oct. in 2019.

Through this decision, the party overcame the shaky ties with Chahed. Tahya Tounes is seeking an electoral weight it lacked during the first electoral process it took part in.

It ranked eighth in the partial municipal elections held in Souk Jedid, Sidi Bou Zid. It only gained one municipal seat out of the 18 parliamentary seats, raising questions on its political weight in the coming elections.

Tahya Tounes leaders revealed that it aims to achieve a victory that exceeds 120 parliamentary seats and a majority that permits it to rule without forming alliances with political parties mainly Ennahda Movement.

During the meeting, Secretary-General Selim Azzabi launched the consultations for electoral lists – the council also approved a document to merge Constitutional Democratic Rally in Tahya Tounes. Observers see that Chahed will benefit from the merger, especially on the level of ensuring votes.

Notably, Tahya Tounes is represented in the Tunisian parliament with the National Coalition bloc of 44 deputies. The main purpose of this bloc is to overcome the obstacles hindering reforms on the legal and execution level and to approve pending legal projects, as well as fight corruption.



Trump Says He Expects Hamas Decision in 24 Hours on 'Final' Peace Proposal

Children check the destruction at Mustafa Hafez school, sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, after the school was hit during an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City, on July 3, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Children check the destruction at Mustafa Hafez school, sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, after the school was hit during an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City, on July 3, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Trump Says He Expects Hamas Decision in 24 Hours on 'Final' Peace Proposal

Children check the destruction at Mustafa Hafez school, sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, after the school was hit during an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City, on July 3, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Children check the destruction at Mustafa Hafez school, sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, after the school was hit during an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City, on July 3, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

US President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours whether the Palestinian group Hamas has agreed to accept what he has called a "final proposal" for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza.

Trump said on Tuesday Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalize a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties will work to end the war.

He was asked on Friday if Hamas had agreed to the latest ceasefire deal framework, and said: "We'll see what happens, we are going to know over the next 24 hours."

A source close to Hamas said on Thursday the group sought guarantees that the new US-backed ceasefire proposal would lead to the end of Israel's war in Gaza.

Two Israeli officials said those details were still being worked out. Dozens of Palestinians were killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes, according to Gaza authorities.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, Israeli tallies show.

Gaza's health ministry says Israel's subsequent military assault has killed over 56,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza's entire population and prompted accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations.

A previous two month ceasefire ended when Israeli strikes killed more than 400 Palestinians on March 18. Trump earlier this year proposed a US takeover of Gaza, which was condemned globally by rights experts, the UN and Palestinians as a proposal of "ethnic cleansing."